Ship-salvaging apparatus



.H. n.' DEAM.

sHlP sALvAGmG APPARATUS. n APPLICATION man Amal, 19m.

A Famed May1o,1921.

- 3 SHEETS-SHEET f.

J0 zz JZ J0 H. D. DEAM.

SHIP .SALVAGING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED AUGAI, 191s.

1,377,404, Patented May'1o,1921.

s SHEETS-snm 2.

PATENT .oi-Trice.

HENRY D. BEAM, OE BENTON HARBOR, ylVIIIGHlEGrAN'.'

SHIP-SALVAGING APPARATUS;

To all who/mit may concern.'

Be it known that I, HENRY D. DEAM, a

citizen of the United States, residing at Benton Harbor, in the countyof Berrien andV State of Michigan, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Ship-Salvaging Apparatus, of which the kfollowing isaspecification. v

This invention relates to the salvaging of boats and ships, andparticularly to the salvaging of ships which are sunk in deep water. Anobject of the invention is t0 provide apparatus to be used in attachingthe cables or other elevati g means. to the sunken shipand to provi e amethod by which the apparatus may be used in an etlicient andpracticable manner. .Other objects of the invention will be apparentfrom a consideration of the accompanying drawings and thedescriptionthereof. n

OfV the accompanying drawings rFigure l is an elevation, partly insection, of a diving suit which embodies features` of my invention. Fig.2 is an enlarged sectional view of the upper portion of the diving suit.Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmental section of a portion of the suit. Fig.l is a central sectional view'of ak diving bell used in conjunction withthe rest of the apparatus and Fig. 5 is a view, more or lessdiagrammatic, of the entire yapparatus whenusedin combination.

'In case of a ship sunk in deep Awater it is difficult for divers tooperate in the vicinity of the ship, partly because of the enormouspressure of the water on the diving suit and hence on the body itself.Tolavoid this provide a diving suit the walls of which are selfsustaining against any pressure that is likely to be encountered by thediver.- In order to provide a ysuitable, wallfor this purpose, which'will be suliiciently'A light and yet strong enough for all ordinarypressures,`

I provide f an inner framework comprising longitudinal strips 10 of anysuitable material; I prefer'fortlie purpose steely strips. Weavedtransversely in these longitudinal strips are bands or rings 11 of anysuitable cross section and material, such as halfround steel. The stripsextendk loiigitudify nally from one joint .tov another, as from the feetto the knees and from theknees to the hips ;y and the rings 11y aresubstantially circular, extending around the limbsv and they body; andrbeings-jcircularthey are able' to stand an'enormous external pressure.Out- Application filed August y31, 191s. semina. 252,199.y u

Y side oftheframework formed by the strips and ringsI provide a flexiblelwaterproof fabric 12, composed of any suitable material.

In this instance I prefer for this. fabric an inner lining of sheetrubber 13; Voutside of this isa sheet of duck lll, thena second sheet ofVrubber 15, then a secondsheet of duck 16, and then a third sheet ofrubber 17 ;`so as to form an extremely strongr waterproof but fabriclits loosely, vas indicated in F ig. l, so as to allow the requiredamount of ymoveh ment without unduly straining the fabric.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented luay 10, 1921,

'lexibleffabria This fabric extends over f The `armsof the suit vareVconnected to the body by means of a ball and socket joint 18, theelbows having an ordinary joint 19, and

- the hands being coveredfby gloves 20, composed of thick waterprooffabric, somewhat similar to that covering the framework so that a'slightamount of movement of the fingers is possible; while the arm may bemovedjat both the. shoulder and theelbow.

' The upper portion ofthe suit comprises any suitable .formfof helmet21, fastened to the framework by means of flanges 22, er in any' othersuitable manner. In the front part of the helmet, and on each sidethereof, .there are kwindows 23, Athrough which the Vwearer of thesuitniay observe surrounding objects, either'by lcoking straight Aaheadthroughthefront windows'or turning his head sidewise andlooking throughthe side -windcws. :Each window Vcomprises twoy Lpanes. 24 of heavyplate glass suitably finountedf in the helmet. y Andslidably fixedwithin thefhelmet isa searchlight 2.5, `arranged to slide upon rails2G,=',so it maybe moved freely fromone window to either of the'others;and so arranged that the oper- Extending upwardly-fromthe helmetareyiexible tubes 30 andl. yThese ktubes also pass to the `attendant scow,and one of the` tubes is arranged to receive compressed air I for use ofthe operator, and the other allows the exhaust air to pass out of thehelmet. Also, fixed in any suitable manner to the suit, such as to theflanges 22, are cables 32, by means of which. the suit is connected tothe attendant scow, and the diver may be raised or lowered as desired,by means of the davit 33, and the windlass 34. A telephone 35 is alsosuitably mounted in the helmet having wires 36 passing upwardly, throughthe flexible tube 28, to the scow; so that the operator may at anytime-communicate with the attendants in the scow. Also, suitably mountedin the suit, is a compass'37.

consideration of this structure will show, that the wearer of the suitwill have Y the pressure of thev water entirely removed from his bodyexcept on his fingers; and the gloves worn can be made sufficientlystrong to reduce the pressure within safe limits. The diver may also bemoved from one place to another by signaling to his attendants, and isat liberty to move around somewhat himself; and he may also handletools, and particularly place cables and the like wherever necessary andmake such other attachments to the vessel as may be deemed best. lnorder to overcome the buoyancy of the diving suit, and particularly thebuoyancy dueto the long flexible conduits, weights 40 may be attachedtothe feet of the suit; and the number or magnitude of these Weights maybe varied to suit the needs, depending upon the distance the diver is todescend underneath the water.

A friction pad made of any suitable material, such as crushed agate, isxed to the lower surface of theV lower weight, to reduce Ythe tendencyof the divers feet to slip on the surfaces of the boat. Y

To assist the diver in his operations, tie diving bell 4l, shown indetail in Fig. 4, is provided. This bell may be made in any suitablemanner, l prefer for the purpose the cylindrical casing 45, with theconvex and concave ends 46, so as to give the maximum amount of strengthfor the weight; the dimensions of the shell being such as to allow a manto stand and move about more or less therein. In the wall of the shellare several windows 47, each comprising two panes of thick glass 48,through which the observer Vmay look in any direction; and a searchlamp49 is also provided, by means of which light may Ybethrown Awheredesired through thewindows, sockets 7l being provided for suitablypositioning thelamps. A telephone 50 is also installed' and suitableelectric cables 51 for the lamp and telephone pass upwardly through theflexible conduit 52 to the attending scow 53. Flexible conduits 42 andk43 also connect the ybell with the scow; and through these compressedair maybe forced to the tor 58. Fixed to the outer end of the shaftl isa propeller 59. The motor'is controlled by means of the throttle valve60, so that the operator can at any time operate the motor and force thebell through the water more or less, as may be desired. Also, slidablymounted in the wall is a shaft 6l'pivotally connected, by means of links62, to arms 63 fixed, respectively, vto a tiller 64 within the bell andto a rudder 65 without the bell; the arrangement being such that theoperator can, at pleasure, by means of the tiller, operate the rudder toVsteer the bell. ln the lower part of the bell are weights 66, which maybe increased to such an amount as may be necessary to overcome thebuoyancypof the bell and the connecting conduits. Also suitably mountedin the bell.

with he may also move the bell by means of the propeller 59 and therudder 65;so that he is at liberty to move the bell wherever desired inthe vicinity of the sunken ship, or he may allow it to rest'upon, or besuspended over, the ship if desirable.

AThe three-way valve 55 is arranged so as to, close the exhaust pipe 43;and the valve 60 is also a three-way valve-which, when in one position,closes the conduit 42 to the motor 58 and opens the conduit to theinterior of the bell; so that in case of water leakage in the walls ofthe bell the operator may allow the compressed air to enter the bell andreduce as much as possible the amount of water entering therein; thus,if at the saine time he gives the signal to hoist, he vmay be elevatedto safety before being seriously injured.

, One or more attendant scows may be used. l prefer to use a scow 29which is theattendant of the diver, and a scow 53 which isv theattendant of the operator of the diving bell. The purpose ofthe use oftwo scows is so that either scow may move the apparatus to which it isconnected independently of the other; thus the diver may be moved aboutone end or side of the sunken boat and the bell about the other end orside, or in any manner which may be necessary in order to carry onproperly the operations. Each scow isprovided with suitable elevatingmeans 83' and 34, an air compressor 72, an electric battery 73, atelephone 74, and other suitable apparatus ;k and electric signal cables75 connect the two scows. l

While the diver and the bell operator may work independently of eachother at times, yet during a portion of the operations it is desirablefor them to coperate, particularly in suitably attaching variouselevating means to the sunken ship. AAs the operator of the diving bellhas much more freedom of action in moving about and viewing thedifferent portions of the ship,

it is in general his function to be the observer as to the conditionssurrounding the ship and as to what should be done. For instance, if inhis opinion a lifting cable should be placed under the bow of the boathe signals to the attendant in his scow, his attendant signals to thediver attendant in the other scow, and the diver attendant signals tothe diver, at the same time moving the diver as nearly as possible tothe proper position. If the diver upon receiving orders desires to beremoved farther, or needs further information, lie informs hisattendant. In general it is his function to make the at tachments to theboat in the manner and at the place indicated by the observer in the andthese, so far as they are material, are

transmitted to the diver. By these various means it is possible to applyany suitable attaching means, many of which I have fully described inmySerial Numbers copending applications, 228,292; 232,677; 240,313.

In order to assist the diver in finding the y such as an eye 81 fixed tothe suit.

attaching means, a messenger cable 80 kis attached to Yhis suit by anyysuitable means attendant before lowering the attaching' means fixesthereto snap hook 82v and passes the messenger cable through the hook.The attaching means is then lowered to the diver,

yguided by the messenger cable, from which the hook is removedy by thediver. I claim as my invention.: y

1. A diving suit comprising a having rigid sections with flexiblejoints,

kkand a'ieXible, waterproof fabric surrounding said framework,v` saidfabric comprising a plurality of sheetsk of rubberalternating ywithsheets of duck. 2. A diving suit comprising a framework having rigidsections with ieXible joints, a

flexible, waterproof fabric surrounding said framework' The'.

lamp, means slidably connecting said search` s flamp with the interiorofsaid helmet and transparent panels in the walls of said helmetadjacent saidvmeans, whereby said lamp maybemoved from one of saidpanels to another. f 1 n 4. In a diving suit the combination of ahelmet, rails fixed to the inner walls of said helmet, a plurality oftransparent panels ined on said rails. s

5. In a suit adapted to be worn under kwater by a diver, a helmet, asearchlight v krmovably positioned insaid helmet, a pluralityof-transparent'panels inserted in the lwall of said helmet, and meansarranged so that said light may be moved by the head of the diver fromone of said panels to another of said panels. f In testimony whereof, Ihereunto set my hand.` y y V,

HENRY D. BEAM.

i serted inthe wall of said `helmet adjacent ysaid rails,.andasearchlamp slidably mount-

